The Next Big Thing: Nevermore

Hi I'm stealing "The Next Big Thing." So today I'm showing off my WIP Nevermore. Enjoy the ride. Tomorrow I'll be posting answerings to Jolene Perry's Questions...Questions... post.

What is your working title of your book?

Nevermore. Yes I know James Patterson has a book with the same name but no one has exclusivity over a title. Excep maybe J.K. Rowling with the Harry Potter books. I mean

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was on the Entangled publishing website in July 2012 and read about a call for fairytale retelling with a zombie twist. The deadline was less than three weeks away but I was so intrigued I decided to write something anyway and submit elsewhere to try and get it published. Yes, Nevermore was born through a call I never planned to answer. Ironic, no?

What genre does your book fall under?

YA Dystopia. It is also contemporary with horror and romantic elements.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I'm not sure for Peter Pan and Sebastan a.k.a. Captain Hook but Tinkerbell is a lock. Elle Fanning, just look at this photo, she's perfect.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

One sentence huh? In a zombie ridden Detroit, Nevermore follows a contemporary Peter Pan in a dystopian take on a fairytale classic. This is my latest attempt. I'm better at synopsis than one liners.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I'm not sure right now. When I first started I wanted to submit Nevermore as a noella series to a small press. Then I started considering self-publising. Now with all the changes I just want to focus on finishing Nevermore first before really making that decision. Either way I'm determined to get this finished, polished and published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I decided in October to go back to the drawing board because what I was going to make into four to five novellas will now be a stand alone novel. At most maybe a duology. So I'm back at the start but more invigorated than ever.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I wasn't thinking about that when I started this book. I guess it's pretty much a YA contemporary Peter Pan dystopia filled with teens trying to survive in a world that's turned upside down by zombies.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I was trolling publishing sites and found a request for halloween zombie stories from Entangled Publishing. This was in July and while I couldn't meet the time limit for submitting there I got the idea for a contemporary Peter Pan in a zombie apocalypse.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

Well if zombies, gangs, and cannibals don't tickle your interest...oh yeah I didn't mention that before did I? Yes there are cannibals in Nevermore.

Also they're posts available to enjoy:

Playlist Week: Nevermore

Nevermore Hookers

Nevermore Hangers

The Magic 8 Ball: Part 2

I pass this meme unto:

Rachel Morgan

Panda Ninja

Victoria H. Smith

Misha Gericke

Sacrifice Her: A look inside

Please Note: There is an exclusive treat of a character interview with Veronica Hatfield. She is one of two teens to be sacrificed in The Choice (book 2). Click here for interview and more on The Sacrifice Series and info and dates of upcoming interviews with Deidra and Lord Brinn.

Sacrifice Her is book one in my young adult dystopia series. The M.C. is Deirdra Moore who escapes being sacrificed and runs off into the desert outside her city's walls. A teenager who doesn't believe in the gods that most of her people do. She sees her act as self-preservation against a crazy regime.

This novella main antagonist is Lord Brinn who is the leader of Faux and charged with the job of ruling his city and ensuring the God of Gore gets his sacrifice every month in exchange for divine protection. In their world you couldn't survive without divine protection. If you weren't some wanderer in the deserts, you'd be slaves to random gods and creatures much stringer than man. That's what has been believed forever. The ones who don't believe are in the minority.

Deidra is of middle class when she is chosen to be sacrificed. As a teenager this turns her life upside down. She was meant for a different life than this. Her escape leaves her with only the vast desert and freedom. Neither of which she can see the other side of.

Stock photo picture I'll be using for Deidra.

NOTE: Plans have changed since for Deidra cover. I won't be using the stock photo that used to be here so I have removed it in respect of the creator's copyright. Since I won't be using it (and of course that means not paying for it), I have removed it to prevent any negative blood with it's creator.

Kale is a wanderer she meets while on the run. He sees the world as curropt and that staying unattached is how he has remained free all this time. How will Deidra's presence change that? You have to wait for the August 2012 release to find out.

God of Gore is the God that is supposedly protecting Faux from being taken over and destroyed by outside forces. His price is human sacrifices. When Deidra runs Lord Brinn is charged with bringing her back or face certain destruction.

There you have it readers. A look inside Sacrifice Her. My debut novel coming out as an ebook August 2012. Thank you for reading.

A Picture Paints 1000 Words Blogfest

A Picture Paints 1000 Words Blogfest

Thank you for visiting my blog during this blogfest. Click here for more info on 1000 words blogfest. Here's my story.

P.S. : Watched Hunger Games Movie yesterday and loved it. Dystopia Rules.

The Spider King's Mistress

I stared out the horizon. I was dead. Just Fifteen, and my life would end in a few horrid months. Pulling at the spiderwebs tying my hand and feet had no effect. Webs of steel would be an understatement. The guard spider behind me was hanging off a tree. It hissed when I tried to topple the stool my feet were cobwebed to. My arms burned from being stretched behind me and cobwebed. I ran to avoid the fate of the Spider King's misstresses. I wasn't the first but I lasted the longest. Seven months.

Other escapees had varying fates. Some executed, most went back to the spider king and the last option was torture and disemblowment. I Diana Tanner decided to risk it all and run. Now that I was caught, I still didn't regret running. Nothing scared me more than the fate of spider king's mistresses.

The spider king was a mutated giant spider who could speak and had special abilities. He was created in a lab from a cocktail of different DNA species injected into a successful black widow/tarantualle breed. He became the crown jewel of science and the scientists who created him got rewards and gifts. Then he was given human DNA and implanted chips that raised his intelligence to A.I. levels. In less than a year he broke out and in months self-bred strong superior spiders that looked the size of tiny cars. North America was overrun in three months and they breeched other countries borders. The world quickly surrendered and treaties were signed to save them from an insect take over. In N.A.surviving humans were coralled and eventually placed in one of three places. The city, villages or camps. In the city humans did very important work and you have to look and dress the part, villages had humans do menial jobs no one else wanted and the camps were where humans beings were only let out to be sacrificed or eaten.

The Spider King's newest ambition was to create a perfect human spider hybrid. At first this was done in labs with his genectic material and a female's egg. None became viable much less developed into an embryo. Then females started being dragged from camps. I later found out that they were being used to perfect his hybrid baby hopes. His way was allowing a part of him that looks like a long stick to penetrate your belly and go up to your uterus to fertilize our eggs. Those babies lived to be embryos but none lasted past the first trimester. And when that happened, he ate any mother who survived. He eventually started a public call for females to be his mistresses and offered special privilidges for those 14-21. It fell through from day one, no one trusted him. So he went with plan b and had girls taken by force. When they took me, I fought like hell.

Inside the underground compound the king showed us what he really wanted. Two of the five girls were strapped to cots to keep them still.Then he pierced their bellies and myself and the other two girls had to watch them scream and bleed. Doctors dashed in afterwardss to stitch them up but I didn't care. He could only do it once a month so myself and another girl named Carly Beth ran a week before he was due. We split up and I never saw her again.

Now I was captured and my mouth cobwebed shut for cursing and screaming.

If I could I'd also kick myself for being so dumb. Months on the run made me tired, hungry. Earlier today I saw a bowl on a red cloth napkin under a tree. The smell of food made my mouth water. Hunger overwhelmed my sense that it was a trap and I decided to eat. The guard spider attacked as soon as I was finished. He won and I could only wait to see what fate had in store for me.

Suddenly the spider behind me made high pitched noises. He skittered along the tree behind me and I soon heard leaves telling me he'd gone towards the top.  I soon saw why when the spider king came before me. He was a giant black spider with sixteen legs, a grotesque human mouth to speak out of and seven eyes.

"Diana, I've found you," he cooed.

I recoiled from his silky words.

"Carly Beth gave birth two weeks ago, the baby's healthy."

My eyes bugged out at the news. He had his perfect baby.

I'm redundant.

"I know what you're thinking," one of legs rested on my chest, "but you're still very useful...in fact, I'll make perfect use of you now."

I had not time to register as he tore the web from my mouth. My scream stretched for miles. Then he stuck his stinger into my belly and I screamed even more. When he removed it and covered the spot with a bandage, I was a mess. He left as I lost consciousness.

I slipped in and out of consciousness and when I awoke my skin burned from sunburn and the ground was littered with guard spiders. I stunk and could barely take anything in. My eyes bulged when I saw my huge belly.

Oh God, he put his own eggs inside me.

Every night a spider stuck me with a huge needle filled with a white substance. I was starving but they didn't seemed concerned enough to feed me. Only the freaks inside me mattered.

It was a month later that I felt pain so intense couldn't stand it. Then things started coming out of me. I realized they were giant spiders and barfed. More came and by the time it stopped I refused to look down to see what I had left. The chittering got very loud and I was losing consciousness from loss of blood. If only my death could be that easy.

It was.

Hunger Games Movie Out Today

Yes it is here. Hunger Games has gone from novel trilogy to movie release in theatres. Today March 23, 2012 marks the release of movie one with two more to come. I myself will be watching it over the weekend. Jamaica isn't the grand hub of paranormal movies but I'm sure it will do well here. Whether or not you've read the books -like me- the buzz from the movie has a lot of people checking up on what The Hunger Games is really about. Katniss journey starts with taking her sister's place in the games but we all know...well not all of us so I won't say. So Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be in favour that this never happens in real life.

You can also check out Hunger Games anticipation at The League of Extraordinary Writers, Coco's Tea Party, The Bookshelf.